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risu.org.ua - Now all visitors can take a virtual tour of the unique wooden churches in the Carpathian region included in the World Heritage List.

In partnership with the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, Google Ukraine digitized 8 wooden churches in the region and created a special site “Wooden Churches of the Carpathian Region” where one can learn more about each of the churches, and map route to them on Google Maps. 3D-tours of all the churches are available in Street View mode on Google Maps.

Overall, UNESCO put 16 churches on the list of wooden churches of the Carpathian region - eight of which are located in Ukraine and eight in Poland. The churches can be divided according to 4 types of architecture: Hutsul (Ukraine), Galician (four in Ukraine and two in Poland), Boikos (two in Ukraine and one in Poland) and Lemkos (all five in Poland).

The virtual tour can take you to the heart of the Carpathians and give the opportunity to experience the unique architecture of ancient Ukrainian art, masterpieces of European construction that belongs to UNESCO cultural heritage. With easy navigation and voice guidance, you can learn interesting facts about the old churches in the Ukrainian Carpathians region. Take a virtual tour of each of them and plunge into the atmosphere of past centuries through virtual reality.

With its 360-degree panorama you can not just see the church buildings outside and take a walk on the surrounding area, but go inside and admire the interior and old icons.

The site “Wooden Churches of the Carpathian region of Ukraine” can offer a virtual tour of eight authentic wooden churches of the Ukrainian Carpathians. Among them: The Church of the Ascension, Yasin, Rakhiv district, Transcarpathian region; Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit Potelych, Zhovkva district, Lviv region; Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Rohatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region; Church of the Holy Trinity in Zhovkva, Lviv region; Church Nativity of the Blessed Theotokos, Nyzhniy Verbizh, Kolomyia district, Ivano-Frankivsk region; Church of St. Michael the Archangel, Uzhok, Velyky Bereznyy district, Transcarpathian region; Church of St. George, Drohobych, Lviv region; Cathedral Church of the Blessed Theotokos (St. Dmitry), Matkiv, Turka district, Lviv region.

Rostislav Karandeyev, Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine: “Preservation and promotion of historical and cultural heritage of Ukraine is an important challenge, which now the Ministry faces. Thanks to Google’s digital tools, masterpieces of Ukrainian artists are available to the world. The website “Wooden Churches of the Carpathian Region” is one of the projects of the campaign “Authentic Ukraine”, which was the result of our collaboration with a team of Google Ukraine. Such projects that combine rich traditions with modern technology, demonstrate the uniqueness and originality of our country.”

Oleg Yakymchuk, Director of interaction with public authorities at Google Ukraine, “Authentic Ukraine” is a cultural project of Google, aimed at presenting a unique and diverse cultural heritage of Ukraine and implemented in partnership with the government and local communities.

Digitization of Carpathian wooden churches put on the World Heritage List has for the first time provided online access to these unique attractions for all Internet users in Ukraine and the world.”